1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for straightening and cutting once used bale ties and more particularly to a method and apparatus for straightening and cutting once used bale ties having one fastening end removed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wire bale ties are wires which have opposing fastening ends wherein the wire is wrapped about a compressed material and the fastening ends are interengaged. There are several types of bale ties, the wire bale ties differentiating only in the types of fastening ends utilized. One preferred type of bale tie is one having a loop at one end and a cross head at the opposing end and known as a "cross head" bale tie.
One particularly common use of bale ties, and particularly the cross head bale ties, is in the harvesting and shipping of cotton and the like materials. The farmer brings the cotton to a gin mill, the cotton is processed, compressed and bale ties are disposed thereabout and the bale transported to a warehouse. At the warehouse the bale ties are removed and the cotton is further compressed to form a smaller bale and shorter bale ties are disposed thereabout. It is desirable to reuse the bale ties disposed about the initially compressed cotton by cutting them to a shorter length and disposing them about the fully compressed bale.
Several methods of reusing these once used bale ties have been proposed and used, some of them involving cutting both fastening ends from the bale tie, cutting the bale wire to the desired length, straightening the bale tie wire and reheading the wire to form a shorter bale tie.
Exemplary of such straightening and/or cutting apparatus are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,316; 2,505,209; 1,466,344 and 761,231.
Although many of the proposed apparatus use manual straightening techniques, mechanical straighteners such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,316 and 1,751,094 are useful.
In accordance with the present invention a method for straightening once used wire bale ties is provided which involves removing one fastening end, straightening the bale tie wire and cutting it to length. After the bale tie is straightened the removed fastening end is reformed on the bale tie and the shortened bale tie is ready for reuse. An apparatus to accomplish the method is also provided.